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Updated: May 19, 2026
Flash NanoPrecipitation for the Encapsulation of Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Compounds in Polymeric Nanoparticles
Published on: January 7, 2019
Preparing amorphous hydrophobic drug nanoparticles by nanoporous membrane extrusion
Peng Guo1, Tammy M Hsu, Yaping Zhao
1Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5080, USA.
Aim:
The aim of the present study was to develop a simple and straightforward method for formulating hydrophobic drugs into nanoparticulate form in a scalable and inexpensive manner.
Materials & Methods:
The nanoporous membrane extrusion (NME) method was used to prepare hydrophobic drug nanoparticles. NME is based on the induced precipitation of drug-loaded nanoparticles at the exits of nanopores. Three common hydrophobic drug models (silymarin, β-carotene and butylated hydroxytoluene) were tested. The authors carefully investigated the morphology, crystallinity and dissolution profile of the resulting nanoparticles.
Results:
Using NME, the authors successfully prepared rather uniform drug nanoparticles (∼100 nm in diameter). These nanoparticles were amorphous and show an improved dissolution profile compared with untreated drug powders.
Conclusion:
These studies suggest that NME could be used as a general method to produce nanoparticles of hydrophobic drugs.
